Author: Daniel Gallen

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the adjacent south Connacht lordships of Clanrickard and Hy Many lay beyond the effective control of the Tudor government. Both possessed similar cultural and socio-political structures in the Gaelic Irish tradition, but were inhabited by population groups of different ethnic origins: Clanrickard was ruled by the Burke dynasty, descendants of the thirteenth-century Anglo-Norman conquerors and colonists of Connacht, while Hy Many was governed by the indigenous Gaelic Irish O’Kelly lords. This talk will chart the intermittent expansion of English rule into the lordships during the course of the sixteenth century, while examining major government initiatives such as the surrender and regrant programme of Sir Anthony St Leger in the early 1540s; the establishment of the Connacht presidency and the formation of Co. Galway in 1569; and the drafting and implementation of the second composition of Connacht in 1585 and after. The difficulties experienced by the historically hostile political communities of Clanrickard and Hy Many, as they endeavoured to accommodate the ever-increasing demands of the Tudor state, will be analysed and discussed, as will the consequent changes in the political, social and economic fabric of the province of Connacht. Dr Joe Mannion is a… Read the rest

This lecture will introduce the seminal monthly bilingual Irish-English newspaper An Gaodhal, the first serial dedicated to providing content to an Irish-language readership. An Gaodhal was established, edited, and printed from 1881 to 1898 in Brooklyn, New York, by Micheál Ó Lócháin (c.1836-1899) from Milltown, Co. Galway, who came to be regarded as the father of the Irish-language movement in America, a movement that inspired the emergence of the Gaelic League at home in Ireland. The contents of An Gaodhal reflect the cultural interests of Irish speakers in New York, Ireland, and the wider diaspora; Irish American life; New York history; and the development of the Irish language during the Celtic Revival period. A partnership between University of Galway and New York University is currently working to create a fully searchable digital edition of An Gaodhal by training artificial intelligence how to read the Cló Gaelach script printed in the newspaper. Deirdre Ní Chonghaile is a writer, musician, broadcaster, and curator from the Aran Islands. Her 2021 book Collecting Music in the Aran Islands: A Century of History and Practice, published by the University of Wisconsin Press, has been described as “one of the most important and fascinating books about… Read the rest

This talk will discuss the development of the annual Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireannin the 1950s, with particular emphasis on when the Fleadh came to Loughrea, CountyGalway in 1955 and the subsequent year 1956, when it was hosted in neighbouringCounty Clare, in Ennis. The Fleadh was first established by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann(CCÉ) in 1951, when the inaugural festival was held in Mullingar. That first Fleadh wasthe initial action of CCÉ, the nascent music revival organisation, itself as yet unnamed.Over the course of the 1950s, the annual Fleadh (and the developing structures ofcounty and provincial Fleadh) became the most important calendar event for the Irishtraditional music community of practice. In the 1950s, Loughrea and Ennis as locationswere key building blocks in Fleadh growth, but were not without tensions which spilledover into the performance space.  The Fleadh remains central to Irish traditional musicculture, now attracting over half a million people annually, however, it is these earlyfestivals which created many of the structures and patterns of festivalisation that arecentral the contemporary Fleadh model. Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin (Head of Irish Studies, Centre for Irish Studies, University ofGalway) lectures and researches in the field of Irish music and dance studies. Widelypublished, Méabh’s current research projects… Read the rest

Cover of “Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain’s Greatest Female Code Breaker” Galway woman Emily Anderson may have appeared to the world as the epitome of ordinary,yet was in truth anything but. Born in 1891 as the daughter of the President of Queen’sCollege Galway, during World War I she was recruited to British intelligence to work as acodebreaker. So exceptional were her skills that she was one of the few women retained towork in intelligence during the interwar period, and subsequently served as a codebreaker atBletchley Park and later Cairo, winning an OBE in the process. Though widelyacknowledged as an exceptional musicologist – her translations of the Letters of Mozart andthe Letters of Beethoven are classics to this day – her professional life as Britain’s greatestfemale codebreaker remained secret until the recent publication of her biography by JackieUí Chionna. In this lecture Dr. Uí Chionna will recall the remarkable life of the woman whoearned herself the title “Queen of Codes”. Dr. Jackie Uí Chionna teaches History at the University of Galway. Her biography of EmilyAnderson, Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain’s Greatest FemaleCodebreaker, was published by Headline UK in 2023. Her previous… Read the rest